Sunday, August 03, 2008

Following are excepts from the Jonesboro Sun August 2, 2008. The remarks were made at a meeting of concerned citizens.This article is just one more instance of why it is urgent that Arkansas pass laws to prevent more illegal aliens from coming to Arkansas.

Yates [Jonesboro Police Chief] weighs in on drug woesJONESBORO — A cultural wave of drug abuse and violence has started across the country, and Jonesboro Police Chief Mike Yates said he is concerned.Unlike the drug and cultural revolution of the 1960s, this new shift is more tied to gang activity, Yates said...

Most of the fight against the sale and consumption of illegal drugs occurs at the local level, but some national policies are making the problem worse, even in Jonesboro, Yates said...

Over the last couple of years the bulk of methamphetamine has come into the city from Mexico, Yates said...

Working as a Drug Enforcement Agency officer in Atlanta during the mid-1990s, Yates said he noticed a huge swing in the amount of meth moving across the Mexican border after the North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted.

Local meth dealers were hampered by laws passed by the Arkansas Legislature in 2005 limiting the amount of ephedrine or similar drugs that could be purchased. These substances are a primary ingredient in producing meth.

When local supplies withered, “Mexican Ice,” as its called on the street, began to appear in greater quantities, law enforcement officials said.Mexican meth tends to be higher quality, which makes it more dangerous, Yates said.

Many of the upper-level drug dealers who control the flow of meth out of Mexico tend to be illegal immigrants, the police chief said. ..

Although drug problems relating to illegal immigrants in Jonesboro are negligible, Yates said it still affects this community.To stem the tide of Mexican meth, Yates said more inspections of cargo on the border are necessary, and all immigrants need to be accounted for.

“I’m not against people coming here to find jobs and improve their lives,” Yates said. “What I can see is how illegal immigration affects the law enforcement side of the equation.”

Some of his opinions about how to curtail the area’s drug problems aren’t “politically correct,” and Yates said he’s more than aware of that.“If I get into trouble for telling the truth, so be it,” Yates said.